Don't Panic, It's Organic! Jump In Everytime

Damn! I thought it was the same as UNI-T UT210E... Well I can still cancel the order.
I said 2.1Amps. Even lower that is if I ever manage to buy the right meter :P
Thanks!

Fluke might not be Apple but the fan base seems similar. I laid out my arguments why it's a bad meter and I'm not the only one. Check out AvE fluke t6 review and he lays it down very well. His meter at least did get some ground here and there with the probe.
But I can say Hail Fluke! Hail the almighty Fluke! to make people happy.
 
Teleon said:
U dont need to "Heil Fluke", there are also other good brands, but for professionals, as @Emilya said, it's the choice.

All electronics get manufactured in China, u got a huuuuugh variation in quality there.

Get the one I posted a few posts before, that's fine for normal tinkering stuff.
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I ordered a Kaiweets HT206D from Amazon. Just to compare it with the UNI-T UT210E Pro when that finally arrives from Aliexpress. Couldn't really find any cheap DC clamps locally. Amazon usually arrives in a week and that's fine. I hope I selected something that I can actually use now :)
 
Vike said:
I ordered a Kaiweets HT206D from Amazon. Just to compare it with the UNI-T UT210E Pro when that finally arrives from Aliexpress. Couldn't really find any cheap DC clamps locally. Amazon usually arrives in a week and that's fine. I hope I selected something that I can actually use now :)
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Finally :D

The accuracy isnt that good, but should do the job.
 
Don't need more than maybe one decimal on Amps to do the work.

These are my workhorses that do my everyday electrics measurement a lot easier.

full

When I need to measure DC currents I use this one is goes under the brand Lutron, it's got one decimal on the Amps but that gives me mA and that's mostly fine enough. What I wish I had is a oscilloscope though for looking at logic circuits and signals. Always that something....

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Merry Xmas everyone! :green_heart:
 
I got the meter. Set voltage to 20.3V and it measures 5.75A coming from driver and 0.95A at individual led strip. Again, nothing happens when I rotate the trimpot for current adjustment.

Teleon does yours change when you rotate the trimpot?
I should have the same drivers.
PART: 1866-2471-ND

MFG : MEAN WELL USA Inc. / HLG-320H-20A

DESC: LED DRVR CC/CV AC/DC 17-22V 15A

I'm starting to suspect these are not the right drivers for this. Teleon what happens when you turn the lo ADJ pot?
 
I have 6 strips for 1 driver. If I take out 1 strip and have 5 as your build would that make a difference? If you can't adjust the current I don't see how you get 492W. With 12 strips I got only 231W.
 
Does this look like the drivers you used? Anyone know what that A looking thing means that has the value 0.95? It's the same amount I'm getting at each strip.

PXL_20201231_194755081.jpg
 
Voltage shouldnt be aboth 20.21V - try to lower that and then try again to adjust the Io.

It's the same driver and I can adjust the Io, I'll do it every time when using that lamp. Starting at lowest point, increasing it when in bloom.

Or u can try it with just 5 Stripes to see if it still behaves like that.


PS: Cant imagine that both drivers u got are broken
 
There is nothing broken in this, its simple math... you are saturating those drivers too much. You can't max a driver out like that and think it will lite up those strips 100%. You should always get a driver that can deliver about 20% more than your load to be in a safe zone with what a driver can deliver. If you overload a driver like you are doing it wont last long for you.
 
I tried but it doesn't matter where I set the voltage. It's really unlikely that both are broken but the lo pot really does nothing on both of them.
I tried contacting Digikey where I bought them but they just copy pasted some generic return policy thing. Wtf is going on.
Anyways, happy new year.

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PXL_20201231_202854768.jpg


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CraZysWeeD said:
There is nothing broken in this, its simple math... you are saturating those drivers too much. You can't max a driver out like that and think it will lite up those strips 100%. You should always get a driver that can deliver about 20% more than your load to be in a safe zone with what a driver can deliver. If you overload a driver like you are doing it wont last long for you.
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So what do you suggest I do? Take 1 strip away and set the voltage to where? How does that change the functionality of the trimpots?

The max values for a strip is 20.29V 2800mA. I'm not even halfway there with 20V 950mA. How is 114W on a 300W driver over saturated?

Teleon what voltage and current are you driving the 5 strips at max?
 
Well you get to little amps from the driver to power them all the way to absolute max, IF this is what you want you need either another driver or remove one strip per setup. The driver can deliver 15A MAX total and this is not what I'm recommending you to be at. 6*2,8A is 16,8A so the driver is missing 1,8A, if you only have 5*2,8A its only 14A and the driver will be able to at least deliver this but its still way to close to max of what the driver can handle. Pulled the specs on the driver and MW even recommends to chose a driver with 1/3 over power of draw to guarantee long life of it.
 
CraZysWeeD said:
There is nothing broken in this, its simple math... you are saturating those drivers too much. You can't max a driver out like that and think it will lite up those strips 100%. You should always get a driver that can deliver about 20% more than your load to be in a safe zone with what a driver can deliver. If you overload a driver like you are doing it wont last long for you.
Click to expand...

CraZysWeeD said:
Well you get to little amps from the driver to power them all the way to absolute max, IF this is what you want you need either another driver or remove one strip per setup. The driver can deliver 15A MAX total and this is not what I'm recommending you to be at. 6*2,8A is 16,8A so the driver is missing 1,8A, if you only have 5*2,8A its only 14A and the driver will be able to at least deliver this but its still way to close to max of what the driver can handle. Pulled the specs on the driver and MW even recommends to chose a driver with 1/3 over power of draw to guarantee long life of it.
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I have no problem having 2 less strips in it because I could use them to replace my 38w fluorescent tube for early vegging.

To clarify I don't want them to drive at max. I want to drive them so the light can replace a 600W HPS and 231W(12 strips) ain't cutting it.

I still don't get why I can't use more leds and drive them with lower current to be equivalent to less strips with higher current. Unless the driver somehow tests the highest possible current? I've always kept the trim at lowest and slowly turned it higher but nothing happens.
I'll try taking two off next to really make sure I've tried everything before sending the drivers back.
 
Tried it with even less voltage. Nothing changed. lo pot does nothing. I'll go ahead and say both of these are broken.

Well, seems like I'll be flowering with the HPS. Have to do some serious tying as the plants are getting too close to the light and I've not even flipped them to flowering yet. Didn't expect this would be such a hassle :(

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PXL_20210101_064001785.NIGHT.jpg
 
Vike said:
I still don't get why I can't use more leds and drive them with lower current to be equivalent to less strips with higher current. Unless the driver somehow tests the highest possible current? I've always kept the trim at lowest and slowly turned it higher but nothing happens.
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This happens because you are trying to do something that's not possible with that configuration, you are chocking the driver with all those strips. There is a relationship between Volt and Amp on a driver, these new drivers have circuits that control this flow to maximize the output. What you are doing is chocking it with to much load, more strips = less amps per strip. As a contrast one of my 320H 48A driver only drives four strips with 4A in total of the 6,7A available, this is a more suitable load for a driver in this size so my advice to you is to reduce the amount of strips to the point where the driver starts coping with the load and you get the desired amps per strip.
 
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